


Afternoon at the E.R.

by MsMachine



Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Attempt at Humor, F/F, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26285548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsMachine/pseuds/MsMachine
Summary: Eve is a hospital resident at the university school-hospital, her first patient is a stabbed wound victim who refuses to cooperate.Killing Eve Week - Jealousy
Relationships: Eve Polastri/Villanelle | Oksana Astankova
Comments: 9
Kudos: 70
Collections: Killing Eve Week 2020





	Afternoon at the E.R.

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably start by apologizing for any medical terms I might have used wrongly. *ashamed af*  
> Also, thank you for stopping by! ;D

Eve unpacked her bag and opened her locker, glancing around to see if anyone would come in, she swiftly changed her clothes into her light blue scrubs, just in time to catch a notification on her pager. It was Friday, so it was expected to have the emergency room full, she just hoped to have an interesting case to focus on.

She was being left behind, she thought, even though her colleagues would definitely say otherwise. Even Clumsy Leslie had an interesting case, it was not every day one would find a litter of spiders growing near your brain through one’s ear canal.

But Eve was not a jealous person, she has an inquisitive mind that was connected with her mouth, and sometimes they would not cooperate with one another, which would leave her to be responsible to the worst area in the hospital a medical resident student would want to be: the geriatric ward also known as the death row ward by the residents and interns who were sent there, since nothing of interesting would ever happen there to instigate the newbies’ curiosity.

It was just rude, but it was also true. 

You just had to be cautious enough so the responsible attending would not hear it from you, which in this semester was Dr. Ruth who was as old as this facility and could be every inch of fierce to protect her ward. So, she was definitely one you would not want to be cross with you. 

Eve did the possible to be on her best side, after all, recommendation letters did not write themselves. 

Hence the reason why Eve was going to the very opposite side of the geriatric ward and directly to the ER: number one, it was Friday and it also happened to be a holiday; number two: they were short-staffed, Eve’s colleagues were attending a heart transplant that was to happen that very same evening at South Wales Hospital. 

She was supposed to be there. She was supposed to be the medical student in the operation, even if only to clean blood and pass along the scalpel.

“ _Shit_.” She was her own downfall. Even though she was right, the fact she tried to correct her attending supervisor in front of other doctors did not go well for her. She was most definitely marked by now, so no other resident would want to take her as their protegee.

At least she had Dr. Ruth, who seemed to take good care of her, heaven knows why, Eve had the clueless idea. Elena kept torturing her by saying she just wanted to shag a young doctor, for once.

“I’m serious!” She had said, for the thousandth time. “Have you seen how she looks at you? It just gives me the creep, love.”

Eve balanced her head negatively, taking a spoon of salad, or whatever that greenish stuff was.

“Tell her, Kenny! You’ve seen it! And heard what she said about _Miss Park’s ethical work_ …” Elena’s mocked accent made her smile against her will, even Kenny gave a sheepish smile, his trademark.

“Stop it, someone will hear it.”

“What? That Dr. Ruth wants to shag you in the death row alley? Everyone knows, love, you’re the one late for the party!”

“M-maybe you should, uh, listen to Eve. Elena.” Kenny came into Eve’s defense or was just as scared to be in the middle of such conversation since his mother held a chair at the director’s board. It just would not be good for his family image, neither for him. But Kenny was a good kid, a great doctor, he just needed to get out of his shell more often.

And Elena seemed to enjoy that about him, which Eve used that in her favor by giving her a knowing look. As if that was a secret for anyone in the hospital, besides Kenny himself. Poor kid.

But Eve did not have the time or even in herself to give a thought or two about that in this Friday afternoon. She had other things to be pissed about, and it was all on her.

Entering the ER, Eve went to the nurse’s wing and signed up her datasets and tightened the belt of her white coat. Greg, also known as the only male nurse, greeted her with his bright teeth smile.

“This seems pacific, have you closed the gates?” Eve asked, making small talk, which was not her great strength. 

Greg laughed at that, he laughed at anything female doctors would throw at him. Eve was well aware of his antics.

“Nah, it’s pretty early, mark my words, this place will be full by five.”

Eve chuckled and kept her pen in her breast pocket until someone snatched it from her hand, she was about to protest when Elena’s figure came into her line of vision.

“Not a word. Good afternoon, Greg.”

“What are you doing here?”

Elena finalized writing her name down quite aggressively and returned Eve’s pen to its former local, not before hitting it twice on Eve’s breast pocket.

“Well, Dr. Duzran had the delicacy of sending me back to help you out, since we’re great friends, it just wasn’t fair for you to have all the fun here in the ER.”

“How thoughtful of her. Shit. Sorry, Elena. I know how important this was for you.”

“Both of us, you mean, right? Ah, fuck that old rag! We’ll be the ones sending her down on morphine a few years from now, I just know it.”

They shared a conspired smile. Eve loved that about Elena, she was not afraid to say what was on her mind, however she had a clever mouth to whom as supposed to hear it. Eve had a lot to learn.

The clock turned 1 p.m. and they went separate ways, fixing some cuts, applying bandages, just the basic stuff the nurses on duty were making a closed eye about it.

The afternoon passed by smoothly, as Greg had predicted when the clock hit the five o’clock the room started to get agitated.

Nurse Jackson was with her now, filling her up about new patients with minor injuries, when her pager started to vibrate.

“You know, nothing that water and soup wouldn’t fix-“

“It’s a code blue, bed thirteen.” Eve did not let the nurse finish her train of thought and ran towards the calling, odd enough since no one else seemed to move towards the thirteenth.

Eve was about to shout when the curtains were open to reveal a flushed Niko Polastri with his plastered foot. Confusion hit Eve full force since she could not see anything out of ordinary, yet she pulled out her stethoscope anyway.

“What happened, are you feeling anything?” She asked as she was finding his heartbeat accelerated.

“Er, Eve-“

“Someone biped code blue, but you were alone here.” She was already focusing light on his eyes to check for anything else. “Everyone knows this is not something to joke about.” 

Which was the clue for nurse Jackson to let out a small ironic laugh. Eve looked at her puzzled and a little irritated.

“I’m letting the two lovebirds alone. Dr. Park.” She closed the curtains still wearing the smuggest smile that the hospital has ever seen.

Niko at least had the decency of looking guilty, it took Eve a moment to figure everything out, already feeling stupid for have fallen right in.

“You can’t joke about that, Niko! What if someone actually needs medical assistance?”

“It wasn’t my idea, Elena-“

“Why am I surprised…”

“Anyway, here’s her pager.” He handed her the small electronic device. 

She took it and was about to leave him be when he got hold of her hand, and now she was the one feeling guilty.

“Sorry, Eve, I didn’t mean to disturb you at work, I-I just wanted to see you.”

“Niko-“

“I know you’re busy, you always are, I understand that. Just wanted to let you know there are no hard feelings.”

“I-“

“Dr. Park, sorry to interrupt, it’s an emergency.” Nurse Jackson was back and with a more professional attitude.

“I have to go.”

“I’ll wait here.”

“No, look… go home, Niko. I… I’ll call you later.”

She did not wait to hear his reply, she did not even know why she just hadn't told him she had no interest in going to another date, or whatever that picnic in the middle of nowhere was supposed to mean. Niko was a great guy, he truly was, but not for her. It just was not going to happen.

Her life was already committed with work and her studies, she just did not have the time to look for romance, neither the energy. Never again she would listen to Bill’s idea about blind dates.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she set eyes on a bleeding blonde rolling in her direction on a stretcher. She snapped her disposable gloves, following the stretcher, rapidly observing the patient’s hands on her side torso.

She did not waste time already applying gauze on the bleeding, but the patient’s hand stopped her midway just when nurse Jackson was applying an I.V. on her hand.

“No morphine!”

“This is the procedure-“ Nurse Jackson tried to explain, but apparently the patient didn’t care about it, since she aggressively pulled the needle, throwing it away.

“I said no morphine!”

“You’ll be in incredible pain once we start the procedure of cauterization.”

The blonde stopped fussing and looked Eve in the eye, it just lasted three seconds, but it felt even longer since she ever stared in someone else’s eyes. She had bright hazel eyes and scratchers all over her face, but she was still able to visualize her cat-like features.

“I don’t care about pain.” She made a wince, whilst speaking. “Just let me awake.”

“I-“

“Please.” Her hazel eyes stared down her tag name. “Dr. Park, just do your job, I can handle it.” She had the audacity to wink at Eve’s direction.

Who had no idea what the procedure was, she never had any patient before denying morphine, nonetheless. She didn’t even have time to ponder about it, her patient started coughing blood and the medic in her commenced giving instructions. Eve knew how to fast-react, this what life in E.R. was like, one second could change everything.

The patient needed a blood transfusion; thankfully the bleeding seemed to decrease, which gave Eve a chance to evaluate how deep the wound was.

Once again, the patient’s hand came into contact with hers.

“Ok, now, if you don’t let me look I can’t help you.”

“It’s alright… just don’t, don’t make me sleep.”

“You’re losing blood, you might fall asleep, there’s nothing I can’t do about that if you don’t let go of my hand.”

“You’re honest, I like that.” She sends Eve an alluring smile.

“Please, state your name for our medical record.” Just the right time for the newest intern to arrive. Eve hasn’t even learned the girl’s name, but was already annoyed by the lack of timing.

“It’s _don’t-give-me-morphine_ last name _get-out-of-my-face_ , I’m only talking to her.”

The young intern’s goggle-eyed would be comical, if her fussing patient hadn’t pushed the intern away and pulled the curtain, closing both of them in a solid bubble.

“Now, Doc.” She took a deep breath and stared at Eve’s eyes. “Let’s get to work.”

* * *

“You need an X-Ray which I can only have authorization for if you give me your full name.”

“It’s Villanelle.”

“I mean the name on your birth certification.”

“Does anyone still use them nowadays, anyway?”

“It’s the procedure-“

“I heard that before. Let’s make a deal-“

“-I’m not-“

“Tell me your name and I will answer everything, as long it’s you who fix me.”

Eve was almost gaping, but her senses returned quickly as she felt her page vibrate in her pocket. She could see the gauze on… Villanelle’s, whatever-her-real-name-was, starting to get soaked wet. It would not be the first time a doctor would have to allure their patients to their senses, it was something one would learn on a daily basis.

“Eve. My name’s Eve, now tell me yours so I can fill up the requests.”

“Eve…” She spelled all the three letters and finished with the tip of her tongue behind her teeth. “It suits you. Short and direct. And I just told you, I’m Villanelle.”

Eve could sense a mocking in there, but she had other issues to deal with.

“You know it’s a federal crime to provide a fake name to a governmental institution, right?”

“I’m bleeding, Eve. That’s the real crime here.”

Eve could only internalize her exasperation. When did this turn into a train wreck? She was responsible for the ward today, it was not her first time; then why was she contradicting herself over a reckless patient? 

Just then, a hand creeps out the green curtains, open only to reveal Niko’s sorry face.

“Oh, sorry, I d-didn’t know-“

“Jesus… your mustache is bigger than your face.” Villanelle commented, clearly annoyed for the interruption and for losing Eve’s attention. 

“Niko, I told you to go home.” Eve said in a hissed tone.

“I-“

“Hey, stab-wound here, I don’t see any bleeding so you better get lost or you’ll get one.”

The confused and somehow fearful face of Niko’s would gain a good laugh from Eve if she was not on duty, which brought her to her senses.

“My foot’s hurting.” He bluntly confessed. “I-I need medicine.”

“I think you need to get lost, we’re busy here.” 

“You-“

Eve neither had the time to finish her sentence as she felt an arm engulf her upper body and a pair of lips on her neck. She could not believe what had just happened, she just froze for a few seconds until she felt the floor beneath her feet.

“Oh, wow, Dr. Park, two in a day, huh?” It was Nurse Jackson, once again with her smug smile. “Anyways, here’s the kit.” Then she left, leaving two appalled adults and one annoyed blonde behind.

“I… will leave you to it. Sorry.”

“Niko-“

“Eve… my eyes are getting heavy.“

Villanelle dropped in the bed with a _chunk_ , but thankfully her heartbeats remained the same, just in time the other two interns arrived with the bags of blood for the transfusion. Eve was now in automatic pilot, adjusting the tubes towards Villanelle’s vein, and changing the gauzes.

It was a quick job, Eve’s had always been fast on her feet.

“Stay with her. When she awakes don’t let anyone come closer, I’ll be right back.” She ordered the intern, taking off her gloves.

Eve just did not know what to do, it seemed as if all her medical knowledge had gone to space and she was left wondering what a hydrocarbon was. The logical move was to contact the attending supervisor of the day, so she went beeline to the nurse’s wing. Again.

“What do you mean she’s not here?” Eve was skeptical by the lack of information this wing held at her expense.

“Dr. Ruth is currently in surgery right now, she doesn’t like to be disturbed. Even if it’s you.”

Eve ignored the not so subtle derided tone nurse Jackson was giving her.

“Who’s the responsible resident until then?”

“Uh, it’s Dr. Sosanya, but I just saw her going to the parking lot.”

“ _Shit_!”

Eve went running towards the parking lot direction, without a care for who was on her way. She had a few minutes before Villanelle would wake up, and she didn’t want to imagine the mess the younger woman would do.

“Dr. Sosanya?”

“No! I’m off duty, don’t you dare call me Doc.”

“But-“

“You either call me Jess or you can go back from where you came!”

Dr. Sosanya stood there defiantly, she could have had her hands on her hips for that matter if it was not from her cell phone and bag on both hands. 

Eve was mortified but did as she was told.

“…Jess.”

“Yes, Dr. Park? This better be good, I have a crying infant at home screaming bloody murders at my husband, my neighbors are about to call the cops. Spill out.”

Eve gulped feeling rather guilty, but got closer nevertheless.

“Suppose”, Jess narrowed her eyes at Eve’s word choice. “Ok, if a patient who denies telling us their real name and doesn’t accept any kind of morphine, wants to be awake throughout the whole procedure, what could we, legally speaking, do?”

“Is she mental?”

“I’ve… never said it was a she.”

“You have lipstick on your neck.”

“Oh.” Eve tried to clean it off, only to make it worse. Her cheeks were as red as the now smudged lipstick on her neck.

“You have two choices here. You either threat her by calling the cops, and you know they won’t appear, this city is chaotic as it is with this bloody holiday, or you can just do as she asked.”

“What?”

“Do you want to take notes?”

“I can’t threat her, that’s illegal!”

“Well, weren’t you the one asking for legal advice?”

“But-“

“Listen, Eve, it’s Friday, alright, and ER is as calm as a summer beach day so go ahead with what she’s asking, make her sign all that bloody paperwork, which will make her change her mind very quickly. She won’t handle the pain.”

“I think she will…”

“What did you say?”

“Uh, thank you.”

Dr. Sosanya then left, leaving Eve alone in the parking lot, wondering what to do next.

* * *

When Eve returned, Villanelle was throwing whatever her hands could reach towards the intern she left supervising her. This was definitely a sign to avoid the pediatric ward.

“Dr. Park!” The relief on the intern’s face was palpable. “She said she’d only speak with you!”

“It’s alright, Dr…” She had to look down and read the tag name of the frightened doctor to be, but she barely blinked and he was already out of sight. “Great.”

“Where did you go, Eve? You’ve left me alone with that kid who never even held a shaver!”

“Ok, now there’s no need to be offensive.”

She got closer and analyzed the data which the intern had filled in, thankfully there were no dramatic changes, which was a good sign, the bleeding seemed to have stopped, but Eve still wanted an X-Ray.

“There you go.” She handed her a thick document of papers. “You want to be awake, right? You need to sign it all, and read, so we can move on with the procedure.”

“How many pages is this?”

“Twelve. Sign front and back, please.”

“I might die midway, Eve, it will be all on you.” 

The guilty card just would not work on her anymore.

“Then you better be quick, here’s the pen.”

Villanelle went silent and then started writing her name on the papers; that small feeling of triumph suddenly vanished from Eve’s body. What kind of doctor was she for being happy about other’s misery? Villanelle was clearly in great pain, she could not figure out she would deny a way to soothe it, it was obviously not her place to question her, but now that things started to settle she started worrying about it. Was she running from someone? Should she definitely call the police?

“Don’t worry.” Villanelle’s voice interrupted her train of thoughts. “I’ll be out of your sight as soon as you patch me up.”

Eve was feeling guilty; she had done the only thing she had sworn not to ever do: mix her personal feelings with her workplace. Her day had started wrong even before the afternoon, but this had nothing to do with her patient’s issue; she was more ethical than that.

Villanelle handed her the documents, all signed, and Eve silently nodded, handed it to the nurse who was already scheduling an X-Ray.

Eve took that time to clean the wound, and check on Villanelle’s vitals. Everything seemed fine, so it was expected to be all done soon enough, and she would be prescribing antibiotics and leave her on observation for the night.

But nothing was really that simple, as one would wish.

A few minutes later, Elena found her in front of the monitor in the side room of the radiography ward.

“Hey. Heard you’ve got double trouble today. How did that happen?” Elena asked, handing her a cup of coffee, which Eve could not thank her enough.

“Ugh, I don’t know. Things went upside down today and Niko…”

“Sorry about that.”

“I mean, it’s not your fault. Still, you gave him your pager.”

“It seemed funny at the time…”

“It wasn’t funny.”

“A little bit, eh?”

Eve just nodded negatively, but the coffee had already forgiven her. They both stared at the radiologist positioning Villanelle at the machine and giving her instructions.

“What happened?”

“… We went for a picnic and he wanted to show me a trick he learned with the school kids, but he landed in a funny position and I slowed down at my reaction to help him, honestly, I had mixed my tea.“

“I was talking about her, but go on.”

“Oh.” Eve blinked and took a moment before concluding. “I just feel guilty about it, I mean… he was trying to impress me.”

“Oh, wow, Eve.”

“What?”

“A man breaks a leg and you find it the noblest act of love? I’m sorry for your straight ass.

“Elena, you are straight.”

“What about it?”

Eve could only look at her in disbelief. 

“What I mean is there’s so much out there to be just locked in a sad box. Sexuality is a fluid thing, you know.”

“Oh, wow, whatever happened to you?”

“I’ve been educating myself, it was about time, to be honest. What I mean, is that you should try to be less critical of yourself. Who knows, maybe your soulmate is right in front of you and you haven’t realized.”

Eve stopped drinking her coffee midway and just looked right into Elena’s face.

“No way! When?”

“I’m not saying anything.” She mimicked a sign of zipping in front of her lips.

“Elena, when?”

“Last night. And this morning, but that’s all I’m saying!”

“God, it was about time!” She gave Elena a side hug. “How was it?”

“Honestly?” Eve nodded. “Best shag I ever had, but don’t tell anyone, you know how men are.”

“It’s Kenny we are talking about.

“Still. Men…”

They shared a laugh, and Eve discarded her coffee cup.

“Now what’s the thing between the two of you?” She pointed towards Villanelle’s direction. “She’s hot.”

“She’s a patient.”

“Yeah, until you release her. I heard you’ve had your hands full on her, or was the other way around?”

“ _Jesus_ , Elena… I’m more professional than that.”

“I know, I know… I’m just saying, because ever since I got here she didn’t stop looking at you.”

It was true. As much as Eve tried to busy herself writing down random stuff on her notes, she could feel Villanelle’s eyes upon her. She was very conscious of that, what she did not understand yet why was she giving it significance. 

It was normal for patients to develop a sense of trust with their doctors, but why did this feel even more complex than that? Was Elena right in some way or was she just messing with her? Eve was not thinking straight, and that was not a euphemism.

Elena said her goodbye, and the doctor on Eve resurfaced.

Villanelle had said she would only speak with her, and so she did as asked. With all the papers signed, she could work properly.

In every action, every change of gauze or applications, she would recite out loud, she told herself it was a way to distract her patient's attention from the pain; but the silence was even louder on her ear.

She was finishing applying the bandage when she felt a warm hand on her elbow.

“Sorry.”

“…For what?”

“Being a bitch. I mean, with you earlier.”

Eve just faced her and could feel vulnerability in those words.

“Actually, I own you an apology as well.”

“No, you don’t. You’re very professional, Dr. Park. You saved my life and did as I asked.”

Eve just stood there with half mouth open without knowing what to say. So this is where it ended? It seemed like time had passed by so quickly, she did not even realize it was already night time, and her shift was over.

“I want you to stay. This night, I mean, in the hospital… for observation.”

She smiled and was already on her feet.

“Can’t do that, but thanks.”

“It’s recommendable for you not to be alone.”

“Are you asking me out?”

“What?”

“The answer is yes.”

Eve blinked whilst her cheeks flushed quickly.

“You’ve lost a significant amount of blood.”

Why was she again reasoning with a patient?

“Yeah, I was there. Look, I’m going home and change clothes and I’ll pass by to take you out. So you can keep me company in case I drop dead.”

“This is serious.”

“I’m being serious, Eve. Your shift ended an hour ago but you stayed with me. Also, that walking mustache is coming back again.” She offered her hand to Eve. “Don’t look, just come with me.”

It was tempting; to not look back and just go forward with this total and mad stranger. She could still enjoy the last bits of this dreadful holiday and dissipate her guilt about letting this foolish hell of a woman stumbling in the London night. 

But she could also deny her offer and let things be as they should. She could face Niko and tell him the truth, or she could just get along with it and accept his invitation.

But she did not want to. She did not want to keep passively living her life. Elena was right, she should be taking more action to her life outside the hospital building.

And apparently, the solution to all her inquiries was just in front of her.

So she accepted and sealed the deal as she locked hands with Villanelle and they ran without looking back.


End file.
